Comparison

Inspect vs Charles Proxy

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Inspect

Examine the TLS certificate chain of any website directly on your iPhone or iPad. Understand trust status, protocols, and security signals. Export certificates for further analysis or sharing.

Highlights
  • Inspect live TLS certificate chains
  • Review trust status and security signals
  • Browse and export certificates
  • Safari extension for current page inspection
  • Action extension for shared URLs
  • Home Screen widget for Live Monitor
Read full description

Inspect lets you inspect a site's TLS certificate chain on iPhone and iPad. Paste a host name or HTTPS URL, review trust state, protocol, certificate chain, and security signals, then export any certificate in the chain. Features: - Inspect live TLS certificate chains - Review trust status, protocol, validity, SANs, key usage, fingerprints, and extensions - Surface risky signals like expired certificates, weak algorithms, broken chain linkage, and possible interception products - Browse every certificate in the presented chain - Export DER certificates for sharing or debugging - Inspect the current page in Safari with the Safari extension - Inspect shared URLs and page data from other apps with the action extension - Check Live Monitor status from the Home Screen widget

About

Charles Proxy

Capture and inspect network requests and responses directly on your iOS device. Debug networking issues without needing a computer. View detailed metadata, headers, and bodies, and even transfer sessions to a desktop for further analysis.

Highlights
  • Capture network requests and responses
  • Inspect metadata, headers, and bodies
  • SSL Proxying for plain text viewing
  • Measure network performance
  • Block requests to specific hosts
  • DNS spoofing
Features
Read full description

Charles Proxy for iOS lets you capture, inspect and modify network requests and responses on your iOS device. You can view metadata, headers and bodies in the app, so you can finally debug your app’s networking issues without a computer. Charles Proxy for iOS is an app from the creator of Charles Proxy for desktop. HOW IT WORKS Turn Charles on when you want to start capturing. Charles captures your network requests and responses in the background while you test your app or website. Return to Charles to inspect the requests and responses. If you also have Charles on your desktop, you can transfer recorded sessions to your desktop to explore them on the big screen. Charles creates a local VPN on your device. All of your network traffic passes through Charles on your device, and then out to the internet as usual over either WiFi or Mobile / Cellular data. There is no remote server involved, and your data always remains private to you. FEATURES * SSL Proxying to view SSL requests in plain text * View and share request and responses bodies * Syntax highlighting for text request and response bodies * Measure network performance over WiFi or Mobile / Cellular networks * Block requests to nominated hosts * DNS spoofing

Screenshots

Inspect4 screens
Charles Proxy4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Inspect at Free against Charles Proxy's $8.99. Inspect also leads on review sentiment (87% vs 52%) and rating (4.5 vs 4.0). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Inspect is free to download; Charles Proxy costs $8.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Inspect holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 4.0. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 126 and 189 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 87% of Inspect's written reviews are positive against 52% of Charles Proxy's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Inspect ships an update every 3 weeks, Charles Proxy every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 21, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Inspect versus Charles Proxy: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterInspectCharles Proxy
PriceFree — better$8.99
Rating4.5 (126 ratings) — better4.0 (189 ratings)
Positive reviews86.8% of reviews — better51.9% of reviews
Number of ratings126189 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS18.017.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size35 MB20 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTao XuXK72 Limited

Customer experience

Inspect

All ratings125 ratings
Positive87.2%
Neutral1.6%
Negative11.2%
Written reviews38 reviews
Positive86.8%
Neutral2.6%
Negative10.5%

Charles Proxy

All ratings187 ratings
Positive74.9%
Neutral5.3%
Negative19.8%
Written reviews231 reviews
Positive51.9%
Neutral11.7%
Negative36.4%

Bugs and requests

Inspect

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

Charles Proxy

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Doesn't work with latest iOS versions
  • Fails to export sessions frequently
  • Incompatible with apps using VPN
  • Large JSON bodies not displayed properly

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add ability to edit and replay requests
  • Improve JSON viewer and formatting
  • Add support for WebSockets
  • Provide option to map to local
  • Add scripting and breakpoint features

In-app purchases

None

Inspect

No in-app purchases

None

Charles Proxy

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Inspect free?
Inspect is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Charles Proxy free?
Charles Proxy costs $8.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Inspect or Charles Proxy?
Inspect is rated higher. Inspect averages 4.5 out of 5 from 126 ratings, while Charles Proxy averages 4.0 from 189 ratings.
Do Inspect or Charles Proxy have ads?
Neither Inspect nor Charles Proxy shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Inspect or Charles Proxy?
Inspect ships an update every 3 weeks, and Charles Proxy every 2 months. Most recently, Inspect was updated on October 16, 2026 and Charles Proxy on October 21, 2026.

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